Kinect Sports Rivals not just delayed, but pushed back over six months from console launch

According to Microsoft’s own retail website, Kinect Sports Rivalswill not only be delayed, but you won’t be playing it until the daisies are starting to grow in the Spring. While release dates are always subject to change, the screen grab below from the Microsoft site shows that Kinect Sports Rivals is now pegged as a 5/31/14 release. So that is six full months without a game that was touted as one of the signature launch window titles of the console.

Frankly, this should be a bit embarrassing for Microsoft, as they have already relented on so many of their initial Xbox One policies and features, but the inclusion of the Kinect camera at launch (and the extra $100 price boost that came with it) was one thing they have not backed off. So to have the showcase title that would utilize the Kinect’s game features get pushed that far down the road is not a good thing. Yes the Kinect is designed as much as a voice and motion interactive peripheral as well as a gaming accessory, but to justify the additional cost of the launch bundles and not have a game that truly uses that $100 peripheral is not acceptable to me as a consumer. Is it enough to pull my pre-order, not at all. But it sucks that all I get to do is drive around a wave runner for only four months of that time frame waiting for the game to become available.